Montgomery man allegedly shoots, kills wife

Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, August 3, 2004

Tuesday morning, Presser was found dead in her bed of an apparent gunshot wound; her husband of 25 years, Larry Presser, 56, told police he killed his wife.

Larry Presser called the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

"He called and said he had killed his wife by shooting her," said department spokesman Lt. Rand Henderson.

When investigators arrived at the small blue wood-frame house located at 4755 Price Road, they found 66-year-old Patricia Presser dead on the bed in the master bedroom.

"Larry Presser is cooperating with us," Henderson said. "She had Alzheimer's, and that is a possible motive for the killing.

"The problem is he says he killed her Saturday at 6 a.m."

Lt. Dan Norris said he couldn't discuss whether Larry Presser had explained to investigators why it took him three days to call police after allegedly shooting his wife. He said evidence at the scene did back up Larry Presser's claim that his wife had been dead several days.

Larry Presser was arrested Tuesday morning at the house he shared with his wife and charged with her murder. He remains in the Montgomery County Jail without bond. He is expected to appear before a judge this morning for a bond hearing.

Carolyn Ramos has lived across the street from the Pressers for about seven years. She visited with Patricia Presser daily when Presser would walk her dogs.

"She had Alzheimer's and she was about three or four years into it, but her only symptom was she would repeat herself occasionally," Ramos said. "She still walked her dogs every morning, and took care of her horses. She would come by here every day, and she was always clean and had makeup on and her hair done. She could still take care of herself just fine."

Ramos said Patricia Presser was taking her disease in strides.

"Her mother died of Alzheimer's, so she knew what was coming, but she was still doing really well," Ramos said. "She would laugh at herself when we'd tell her she had just said something or asked that same question."

Patricia Presser did, however, confide in her neighbor about problems in her marriage.

"I knew Larry quit his job or had been laid off or something. He never really told her what happened, but he hadn't worked in about a year and a half," Ramos said. "With him not working, they had already gone through her savings."

Patricia Presser was retired.

Ramos said her friend had talked about going back to England, where she was from, for awhile, but worried about her dogs and horses being left behind.

"She hoped it would make him see he needed to get a job, but she couldn't leave her animals," she said. "She never had any children, and if you knew her, you knew her dogs and her horses were her children."

Detectives have contacted family and friends of the Pressers who will care for the animals.

Having lost a friend to an abusive husband in the past, Ramos asked Patricia Presser repeatedly whether Larry Presser had ever physically abused her.

"She said, 'He's not physical. He barely talks. How could he be physical?'"

Ramos last saw Patricia Presser Friday morning.

"She was out walking her dogs and stopped by here," Ramos said. "Everything seemed fine."

Ramos said Larry Presser was a nice man, but kept to himself a lot and was very quiet.

"I never would have expected anything like this," she said. "She was just a special lady."